Great Western Railway
Passenger’s Charter
September 2015
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What’s inside?
What is our Passenger’s Charter?
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How we’ll help you plan your journey
6
Making it easy to buy tickets
8
If you need help when you travel
12
What to expect at our stations
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What to expect on our trains
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If things go wrong – including delays and compensation
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How to get in touch with us
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Great Western Railway route map
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Great Western Railway: our Passenger’s Charter
What is our
Passenger’s
Charter?
5
Our Passenger’s Charter is our commitment to you. We work hard
to make sure every journey you take with us is easy and enjoyable.
And our charter tells you what you can expect from all of us at Great
Western Railway (GWR), on our trains and at our stations. It sets out
the minimum level of service we’re committed to.
Every year, we review and refresh our charter. We work with Transport
Focus, London TravelWatch and TravelWatch SouthWest to make
sure it’s up to date and fair for all of our customers. If you have any
suggestions for us, we’d love to hear them. You can let our Customer
Support team know your thoughts on 03457 000 125.
You can get copies of this charter from the staff at our stations,
from our Customer Support team or from our website, www.GWR.com.
Treating our customers fairly
We put our customers at the heart of everything we do and every
decision we make. Making sure you’re safe and well, and that we
always treat you fairly, is our highest priority. We want you to have
a great experience with GWR. So we make it easy to talk to us, and
we’ll always listen to you and take your individual circumstances
into account.
Our Customer Report
We’ll publish our Customer Report every year to update you on our
plans and tell you about the improvements we’ve made. We’ll also let
you know how we’re performing against our customer satisfaction,
reliability and punctuality targets.
The National Rail Conditions of Carriage
Our Passenger’s Charter goes hand in hand with the National Rail
Conditions of Carriage. These conditions explain the contract you have
with us when you buy a ticket and use it to travel. You’ll find them on
our website, www.GWR.com, or you can ask our Customer Support
team or the staff at our stations for a copy.
Great Western Railway: our Passenger’s Charter
How we’ll
help you plan
your journey
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We know how important it is to give you everything you need to plan
your journey properly, and to keep you up to date with any changes.
That’s why we offer advice, timetables and information about travelling
with GWR in all sorts of ways.
Here’s how you can stay up to date:
• Check the information displays at our stations.
• Read our leaflets at our stations or on our website.
• Go to www.GWR.com for train and journey information, to book
tickets and to print your own personal timetable.
• Follow us on Twitter @GWRHelp for live journey information, service
updates and to have your questions answered 24 hours a day.
• Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GWR.
• Sign up to our free journey alerts at www.journeycheck.com/GWR.
• Download our free app from your app store or text GWRapp01 to
86688, so you can plan your journey, buy tickets and check train times
and journey information.
• Call our Customer Support team on 03457 000 125.
You can also listen for our announcements at our stations and on our
trains. We give full and accurate live information before and during
your journey. This includes information on how our trains are running,
as well as information about our station facilities, promotions and fares.
National Rail Enquiries and Traveline
You can also get information about all UK trains from National Rail
Enquiries. Just call them on 03457 484950 or go to
www.nationalrail.co.uk.
Traveline can help you with local and national bus information.
You can call them on 0871 200 22 33 or go to www.traveline.info.
Great Western Railway: our Passenger’s Charter
Making it easy
to buy tickets
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Our Buy Before You Board policy means you need to get a ticket before
you get on a train. So we make it as easy as we can for you to buy
tickets for our journeys. And we offer a range of tickets to suit different
circumstances and budgets.
You can find information on our website at www.GWR.com or speak to
our station staff who are happy to help.
Go to www.GWR.com to buy tickets in advance
We can post them to you or have them waiting for you at the station –
either at the ticket office or in one of our ticket machines. You can also
print your tickets at home if that’s easier.
Download our free app to buy M-tickets
You can buy M-tickets for some routes and ticket types with our GWR
app. To get the app, text GWRapp01 to 86688 or search ‘GWR’ in your
app store. We’ll be adding more routes and ticket types to the app soon,
but until then you can find everything you need at www.GWR.com.
Go to the ticket office at any of our stations to
buy our full range of tickets
We’ll explain our range of ticket and fare options and help you find the
best one for your journey.
You can use cash and most credit and debit cards to pay – each office
displays a list of the payment cards it accepts in the window.
You’ll find the opening hours of our ticket offices at www.GWR.com or
displayed at our stations, along with details of how to buy tickets if the
office is shut.
You shouldn’t have to queue for more than five minutes to buy a ticket
from our ticket office at peak time, or more than three minutes at other
times. Peak times are 7am–9am and 4pm–7pm, Monday to Friday. If
we find there are very long queues, we’ll open extra windows or put on
extra ticket staff to speed things up if we can.
Great Western Railway: our Passenger’s Charter
Use our ticket machines to buy tickets to
use straightaway
At a ticket machine, you can buy a wide range of tickets available for
immediate use. You can also pick up tickets you have booked online
or over the phone. Most of our stations have them, and they take cash
and/or most credit and debit cards. Some tickets may not be available,
depending on the time of day. You can buy these in advance on our
website, at the ticket office or through our Sales team.
You can check whether your local station has a ticket machine at
www.GWR.com or by calling National Rail Enquiries on 03457 484950.
Call us on 03457 000 125 to buy tickets over
the phone
We’re open from 7am–10pm Monday to Friday, and from 8am–7pm
at the weekend. We can post your tickets to you or have them
waiting for you at the station – either at the ticket office or in one
of our ticket machines.
If you need help when you travel, please call our Assisted Travel team.
They’ll help you plan your journey, buy your tickets and arrange any
support you need on your trip. There’s more about this on page 12.
Load up your Oyster card to travel round London
Oyster cards make it really easy to travel around London. You can use
your card for GWR journeys between any stations in the London fare
zones 1–6, and as far as West Drayton and Greenford.
You can put travelcards and pay as you go (PAYG) credit on them.
For Oyster PAYG, you need to touch in on the yellow reader at the
station where you start your journey, and touch out at the end of your
trip. That way you’ll be charged the right fare.
We do cap our Oyster fares. So, if you take several journeys in zones 1
and 2 on the same day, the most you’ll pay is the cost of a travelcard
for those zones. If you don’t touch in and out, you’ll be charged the
maximum fare for your trip, and we won’t cap the cost.
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You can use an Oyster card with a travelcard on it with Oyster PAYG
as well. But you can only use your Oyster PAYG with paper tickets if
you’re at an intermediate station. These have a yellow Oyster reader
where you can touch in.
It’s really important that you make sure you have enough money on
your Oyster PAYG to cover your journey. If you don’t, you won’t be able
to use the card again until you top up the amount. You might also get a
penalty fare or be reported for prosecution.
Use smartcards for your season tickets
We’re testing smartcards (a bit like Oyster) across our network.
Once we’re happy they work for our customers, we’ll start setting
them up in more places. You’ll then be able to load your card with
your season ticket and just touch in and out to get to and from your
train more quickly.
Buy PlusBus for unlimited bus travel at
your destination
You can buy PlusBus with your ticket; it’s available in more than
70 towns on the GWR network. You can also get a season ticket version.
Go to www.plusbus.info for more details.
Great Western Railway: our Passenger’s Charter
If you need help
when you travel
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We want to make sure everyone who travels with us has an easy
and comfortable journey – including our older customers and people
with a disability. So if you need support getting on and off the train,
navigating the station or planning your journey, we’re more than happy
to help.
We’ve put together a leaflet called ‘Making Rail Accessible’. There are
several different versions. Our Easy Read version is for people with a
learning disability and it’s available at www.GWR.com. We also have
Braille and audio versions. Just ask a member of staff at one of our
stations for a copy, or call our Customer Support team on 03457 000 125
for more details.
How we can help
If you’re planning a journey with us, you can book some support for
when you travel. You just need to let us know 24 hours before your trip.
Then we’ll:
• help you find your nearest station with the best facilities for you
• help you plan the easiest route for your journey
• make sure our staff know you’re coming and what support you need
• give you all the help we can along the way.
If your local station or the station you need to get to isn’t very
accessible, don’t worry. We’ll arrange for you to get to and from a
station that is, free of charge.
Giving us enough notice
If you can’t give us 24 hours’ notice of your journey, we’ll do our best to
support you when you travel. But we can’t guarantee that we’ll be able
to give you the same level of help.
Great Western Railway: our Passenger’s Charter
15
How to book support for your journey
Priority Seat Cards
You can get in touch with our Assisted Travel team from 7am–10pm,
every day except Christmas Day. They can also help you buy tickets
and make seat reservations. You can:
We always ask our customers to give up priority seats for people
who need them more. But it’s not always obvious why someone needs
a seat.
• call them free on 0800 197 1329
If you need to sit down when you travel, you might be able to get one of
our Priority Seat Cards. That way, when you ask someone for their seat,
you can show your card without any embarrassment or having to offer
an explanation.
• dial Textphone free on 18001 0800 197 1329
• email [email protected].
You can also book through our website: www.GWR.com.
Other useful numbers
You can get more information about trains and journey times from
National Rail Enquiries. Their phone and Textphone number is
0345 60 50 600, and they’re available 24 hours a day.
Our mobility scooter permit scheme
If you have a mobility scooter, we’re happy for you to bring it with you
on certain trains, as long as you have a permit. The only exceptions are
concerned with certain sizes and weights, which may make the scooter
unsuitable or unsafe for our trains. You can find out more about this
and apply for a permit by calling our Customer Support team on 03457
000 125 or going to www.GWR.com.
You won’t need a permit if your mobility scooter can be folded down so
it is no bigger than an average large suitcase; that way it can go in the
luggage rack. You’ll need to be able to take the scooter on and off the
train yourself, or have someone with you who can help.
To see if you can get a card, call our Assisted Travel team on
0800 197 1329 or go to www.GWR.com.
Parking for Blue Badge holders
If you have a Blue Badge, you can park for free in all of our car parks.
The badge just needs to be visible through your windscreen.
Disabled People’s Protection Policy (DPPP)
Our Disabled People’s Protection Policy (DPPP) outlines our
commitment to helping our disabled and mobility-impaired customers.
You can read the policy on our website at www.GWR.com, or ask our
station staff for a copy of the booklet. It’s also available in large print,
Braille and as an audio recording from our Assisted Travel team.
You can call them for free on 0800 197 1329.
Great Western Railway: our Passenger’s Charter
What to expect
at our stations
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We work hard to make our stations pleasant and easy to use. So we
regularly check everything’s working properly, and keep them clean
and tidy as best we can throughout the day. If you find that’s not
the case, please speak to a member of our Station team or call our
Customer Support team on 03457 000125.
Here’s what you can expect at our stations.
Polite, helpful staff
Everyone who works at our stations is proud to wear a smart,
distinctive GWR uniform. They also wear a name badge, and they’re
trained to give you excellent customer service. They’ll be happy to
answer your questions, give you information about your journey and
help with anything else you need.
Waiting areas
All our stations have sheltered waiting areas. Some have waiting rooms
as well, which are open when our staff are at the station.
We also have first class lounges at London Paddington and Cardiff
Central. Here are their normal opening hours, but these can change
from time to time:
London Paddington
Monday to Friday: 6.30am–11.30pm
Saturday: 6am–9pm
Sunday: 10am–11.30pm
Cardiff Central
Monday to Friday: 6am–6.45pm
Saturday and Sunday: – closed
Great Western Railway: our Passenger’s Charter
Automatic ticket gates
For extra security, and to stop people travelling without a ticket,
we’ve fitted automatic ticket gates at many of our stations.
If you need to keep your ticket after your journey, you can show it to the
staff at the gates and let them know you need to keep it. They’ll open a
gate for you.
Getting the right train
We give as much information as we can to help you find your train.
All the platform details, train times and stations on each route are
on our notice boards and information screens. We also have help
points at most of our stations, where you can get live updates and
timetable information.
Changing trains
If you’re changing trains and the service you’re on is running late, your
next train may not be able to wait. That’s because we don’t want to
make the customers already on that train run late as well. Sometimes,
we will be able to wait – for example, if there aren’t many trains per
day or if your connecting train is the last one of the day. But if not, your
ticket will be valid for the next available service.
Please check our timetables to see how much time you’ll need to
change trains before you book your tickets.
Car parking
Most of our stations have car parking for customers. You can check
www.GWR.com to see if your local station has a car park and how
much it costs. Or you can call our Customer Support team on
03457 000 125.
Toilets
Many of our stations have toilets for customers and they’re open when
our staff are there. We work hard to keep them clean and hygienic
throughout the day.
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Great Western Railway: our Passenger’s Charter
What to expect
on our trains
21
We want all of your journeys with us to be comfortable and enjoyable,
so we work hard to make sure everything runs smoothly. Here’s what
you can expect on our trains.
Food and drink
We offer a range of different options for food and drink on our trains.
We give details of all the catering services in our timetable, and at
www.GWR.com. We’ll do our best to let you know if anything changes
before you travel.
The Pullman is the UK’s only train with fine dining. There’s information
about the train’s routes and the impressive menus on our website.
Wi-Fi
At the moment, we have Wi-Fi on our:
• Night Riviera Sleeper
• long-distance services to the West of England and South Wales
• trains that run between London Paddington and the North Cotswolds.
By the end of 2015, we’ll have Wi-Fi on our local trains which stop at
stations in the Thames Valley.
Our first class service
We have first class coaches on many of our trains – we list which ones
in our timetables. And we always try to give exceptional service to all
our first class customers. This includes giving you free refreshments
on the trains with a catering service.
There are times when we can’t serve you at your seat. When this
happens, just show your ticket at the buffet to get the complimentary
snacks and drinks you’d like.
Great Western Railway: our Passenger’s Charter
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Room for bikes
We’ll get you to where you need to be
We always try to accommodate bikes on our trains, but we can’t
promise there’ll always be room.
If you give yourself plenty of time but still miss a connection because
our train is late, we’ll help you get to the destination on your ticket.
If you’d like to travel with your bike, it’s best to check www.GWR.com
before you get to the station, to see which trains you can catch.
Reserving a seat
You can book a bike space when you buy your ticket, and from the
ticket office at the station up to two hours before you travel. As the
spaces are limited, it’s a good idea to book early. It’s also a good idea
to arrive early to give yourself plenty of time to get your bike on the
train safely.
When you buy your ticket, you can make one seat reservation per single
journey. If you don’t use your seat, we’ll give it to someone else. If you
buy an advance purchase ticket, it’s only valid with the seat reservation
that comes with it.
If you have a foldable bike, you can put it in the luggage rack on our
coaches, if there’s room. When you do store your bike on our train,
we’re not responsible if anything happens to it – for example, if it’s lost,
stolen or damaged.
When you may not be able to put your bike on
the train
On some peak time trains, we can’t take bikes at all. On others, we can
only take bikes if customers have reserved a place for them.
There may also be times when we feel there isn’t enough room for your
bike, or that loading it on to the train might be inconvenient or cause
delays, damage or injury. If that happens, we may not carry your bike –
even if you booked a space.
You can find out more about taking bikes on our trains in the National
Rail Conditions of Carriage and our leaflet ‘Cycling by Train’. Please
ask the staff at any of our stations or go to www.GWR.com for a copy.
If you haven’t made a reservation in advance, we can’t guarantee that
you’ll get a seat on the train. We plan our services around how many
customers we expect to travel at certain times. But at peak time, when
trains are much busier, you may have to stand. This shouldn’t be for
more than 20 minutes (or one stop, if that’s longer). And you shouldn’t
have to stand on an off-peak train at all.
Some of our tickets are flexible, so you can catch any of our trains. But
it’s a good idea to book a seat on a specific train – especially for longdistance journeys. It’s free to reserve a seat when you buy your ticket.
If you do book a standard class seat but have to stand up because we
couldn’t provide it, we’ll give you some vouchers as compensation or
a cheque if you would prefer. If you have a first class ticket and there
are no seats available, we’ll give you some vouchers based on the
cost of your ticket, or a cheque if you would prefer. We’ll make up the
difference between a first and standard class ticket for your train. If you
have a season ticket, we’ll work out the proportional rate (not pro rata)
for your journey.
To claim your compensation, please send us your:
Taking animals on our trains
• original first class ticket, or
If you’d like to travel with your pet, we’re happy for you to bring it.
Please keep dogs on a lead and other animals in a suitable carrier.
• M-Ticket booking confirmation, or
You can take up to two animals free of charge. You’ll also need to keep
them off the seats and make sure they aren’t taking up space that other
customers could use.
• standard class ticket and seat reservation, or
• season ticket details.
Great Western Railway: our Passenger’s Charter
You can send them to:
GWR
Customer Support
FREEPOST RSKT-AHAZ-SLRH
Plymouth PL4 6AB
Bringing luggage on our trains
Please don’t bring more luggage onto the train than you can carry.
If you have large cases or other large items, you might be able to put
them in our guard’s van. But that’s only for our high-speed trains, and
we may charge you a fee. You can find out how much in the National
Rail Conditions of Carriage or by calling our Customer Support team
on 03457 000 125.
We always do our best to accommodate all your luggage, including
things like surfboards. But if the train is busy, or loading your luggage
could cause delays, injury or inconvenience, we won’t be able to take it.
We also won’t take unaccompanied luggage or anything that we think
might be dangerous.
Travelling without a valid ticket
Our Buy Before You Board policy means that all our customers must buy
a ticket before they get on the train. We remind our customers about
the policy by displaying signs at all our stations.
If you start your journey at a station where you can’t buy a ticket, you’ll
need to buy one on the train. Or, if you’re changing trains, you’ll need
to buy one at the station where you change.
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It’s really important you know if your ticket has any restrictions.
You can check the terms and conditions of our tickets and railcards
at www.GWR.com. Or you can call our Customer Support team on
03457 000 125 before you travel. They’ll be happy to help.
If you catch one of our trains without a valid ticket, at a station where
you could have bought one, we’ll charge you an anytime fare. That’s the
cost of an open single or return. You won’t get any discounts, unless
you have a Disabled Persons Railcard.
If you’re in a penalty fare area, you might be charged a penalty fare of
£20, or twice the cost of a single fare to the next station – whichever
is more.
You can find out more about the Penalty Fares Regulations in our Buy
Before You Board policy. Please ask the staff at any of our stations or go
to www.GWR.com to read it.
If you have a railcard, please carry it with you when you travel. If you
can’t show it with your discounted ticket, we’ll charge you the full
standard single fare for your trip. This is the same for advance ticket
reservations. Your ticket is only valid if you have the reservation with
you – and vice versa – so you need to show them together. If you don’t,
you may be reasonably asked to pay the full standard single fare.
If you have a ticket for a specific train and you want to travel on a
different one, please go to our ticket office before the train you booked
leaves. You can then pay any difference between the old fare and the
new fare to travel on a different train. We will charge a £10 admin fee
for amendments. If you don’t pay the extra fee you might have to buy a
new ticket at full price on the train.
Our staff check tickets at many stations, so please keep your ticket with
you until you’re outside the station.
Travelling in a group
If you want to travel in a group of 10 or more, please call our group
booking service on 03457 000 125. We’ll help you find the trains where
you’re more likely to get enough seats for everyone, and you might also
be able to get a discount.
Great Western Railway: our Passenger’s Charter
Business Direct
If you travel for work, you might like to use our dedicated rail booking
and business management system to organise your travel quickly and
easily. You can call our team on 03457 660 228 or go to www.GWR.com.
First class upgrades for mums-to-be
We know it can be hard for pregnant women when there aren’t any
seats in our carriages. That’s why we offer women who are 25 weeks
into their pregnancy, and have a standard class season ticket, a first
class upgrade. That way, if there aren’t any standard class seats, they
can sit in any first class seats that are free.
If you’d like to be upgraded while you’re expecting, please send us a
copy of your:
• season ticket
• photocard
• Maternity Certificate (MAT B1) or Family Health Services Authority
Exemption Certificate (FP92) – you can get these from your midwife
or GP.
You can send them to our Customer Support team at:
GWR
Customer Support
FREEPOST RSKT-AHAZ-SLRH
Plymouth
PL4 6AB
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Great Western Railway: our Passenger’s Charter
If things
go wrong
29
We work hard to make sure your journeys with us run smoothly. But
we know that sometimes things don’t go to plan. So, if your journey is
delayed, we’ll do everything we can to get you where you need to be.
What we’ll do to get you through delays
• We’ll always try to keep you up to date about what’s happening, and
give you advice about your journey.
• I f the problems with our service are very bad, we’ll try to put extra
members of staff on the delayed trains and at the stations they
stop at.
• On high-speed services running over an hour late, we’ll give you free
soft drinks for as long as we have them on board.
• I f the train you’re on is delayed during your trip, we’ll get you to the
station you’re going to if we can – by bus or taxi if we need to. If we
can’t get you to that station, we’ll take you back to the station that
will work best for you. And if we can’t do either of those things, we’ll
find you somewhere to stay for the night, so you can continue your
journey the next day.
• We’ll make claiming compensation for a delayed journey as easy
as we can. Where possible, our crew will let you know if you’re
entitled to it and will give you a claim form or let you know where you
can collect one.
Let us know how we’re doing
If you ever get delayed on a journey with us, we want to hear from you.
We’d like the chance to make up for it and handle any complaints you
have quickly and efficiently.
For more on what you can expect from us and how to get in touch, check
our Complaints Handling Policy. You’ll find a copy at www.GWR.com.
Great Western Railway: our Passenger’s Charter
How we compensate you for delays
When we give you compensation, we’ll ask you whether you’d like rail
travel vouchers or an e-voucher, which will show as credit on your
GWR online account. If you’d prefer to get your compensation back as
money instead, just let us know and we’ll send you a cheque.
Below, you’ll see the details of the minimum amount of compensation
we pay for delays. If the delay to your journey isn’t covered, please get
in touch with our Customer Support team on 03457 000 125. They’ll
look into what happened and get back to you as quickly as they can.
If your journey is delayed because of something outside the control
of the rail industry, we don’t normally offer any compensation. This
might be things like trespassing, vandalism, someone being hit by a
train, severe weather or a security alert.
If you have a single, return or weekly season ticket
Journeys on (former) First Great Western services
If you’re delayed by more than an hour, we’ll compensate you for the
full value of that part of the journey. That’s 50% of the cost of a return,
and 100% of a single.
If you’re delayed by more than two hours, we’ll compensate you for the
full cost of your ticket.
For weekly season tickets, we’ll base your compensation on the value
of your journey. So we’ll divide the cost by 10 – which represents two
journeys a day for five days.
Journeys on (former) First Great Western Link services
We’ll compensate you for 50% of the cost of your tickets if:
• your journey is an hour or more and we delay you by an hour or more
• your journey is less than an hour and we delay you by more than
30 minutes.
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For weekly season tickets, we’ll base your compensation on the value
of your journey. So we’ll divide the cost by 10 – which represents two
journeys a day for five days.
Journeys on (former) Wessex Trains services
If you’re delayed by more than an hour, we’ll compensate you for 50%
of the cost of a single ticket and 25% of a return ticket.
If you’re delayed by more than two hours, we’ll compensate you for the
full cost of your ticket.
For weekly season tickets, we’ll base your compensation on the value
of your journey. So we’ll divide the cost by 10 – which represents two
journeys a day for five days.
If you have a combination of tickets
If you have a combination of tickets for your journey, we’ll compensate
you for your whole journey in line with the compensation
arrangements above.
If some of your tickets are for trips with other train companies, we’ll
compensate you if we caused the delay. If we didn’t, we’ll ask the other
train company to contact you. We’ll always let you know when we’ve
done this.
If you have season tickets for a month or longer
Our compensation for customers with a season ticket for a month or
longer is based on whether we meet our punctuality and reliability
targets. If we don’t meet them, we’ll give you a discount when you
renew your ticket.
The table on the next page shows how this works for our different
services. We explain the terms we use later on.
Great Western Railway: our Passenger’s Charter
Charter Group
High Speed Services*
On-time
allowance
10 minutes
33
Punctuality%
Reliability%
Target
Trigger
Target
Trigger
90.0
88.0
99.2
98.2
At the moment, we record our punctuality and reliability standards
under these groups:
• the former First Great Western
• the former First Great Western Link
• the former Wessex Trains
London–Thames Valley Services**
5 minutes
92.0
89.0
99.0
98.0
We also separate Wessex Trains’ targets into four sub-groups.
The table opposite shows these groups and their standards.
Bristol Suburban Services***
5 minutes
92.0
89.0
99.5
98.5
The trigger
Devon Services***
5 minutes
92.0
89.0
99.5
98.5
Plymouth & Cornwall Services***
5 minutes
92.0
89.0
99.5
98.5
South Wales–South Coast Services***
10 minutes
92.0
89.0
99.5
98.5
The trigger is the point at which we give a discount for season ticket
holders. If we don’t meet one of the targets, and fall below the trigger
percentage in the last 12 months, we’ll give our season ticket holders
5% off their next season ticket. If we miss both the punctuality and the
reliability targets, and fall below both triggers, we’ll give you 10% off.
How to get your discount
*Former First Great Western services
If you’re entitled to a discount, we’ll take it off when you renew your
ticket. To get your discount, please buy your new ticket:
**Former First Great Western Link services
• within four weeks of the day your old ticket expires
***Former Wessex Trains services
All Monday to Saturday services are included in these calculations, except former First Great
Western Link services. For those, we include Monday to Friday services. And we only include
morning and evening peak services in the punctuality calculation. Peak services are the trains
that arrive at London Paddington from 7am–10am and trains that leave London Paddington from
4pm–7pm. We don’t include Sundays and Bank Holidays in these calculations.
• for the same journey
• for the same period of time or for a shorter period of time than
your old ticket.
Annual season tickets for former Wessex Trains
If you used to buy your annual season tickets from Wessex Trains,
we’re more than happy to give you the same discounts.
Punctuality, reliability and the on-time allowance
Punctuality concerns the number of trains that arrive at their final
destination on time. The ‘on-time allowance’ concerns the number of
minutes’ leeway we have to still be classed as on time if we don’t arrive
exactly on schedule. Reliability concerns the number of scheduled trains
that actually run.
We’ll give you another 1% off when you renew for every four-week
period that our average yearly punctuality or reliability falls below
the trigger. We’ll give you a maximum of 8% off. If we fall below both
triggers, we’ll give you a maximum of 16% off.
Great Western Railway: our Passenger’s Charter
If you’re entitled to a discount, we’ll take it off when you renew your
ticket. To get your discount, please buy your new ticket:
• within four weeks of the day your old ticket expires
• for the same journey
• for the same period of time or for a shorter period of time than
your old ticket.
Compensation for void days
A void day is when there’s a serious disruption at peak time, and we
haven’t offered you another way to get to where you’re going – like a
rail replacement bus.
35
Work to improve our services
Planned improvement work
At the moment, we’re introducing electric trains on many of our routes
so we can run a faster, more efficient service. There’s also lots of
resignalling work going on, as well as the construction of Crossrail and
the ongoing maintenance of the train network. This means many of our
timetables will be changed to allow this work to go ahead.
We always know about improvement work 12 weeks before it starts,
and we keep our website up to date with any changes to our services.
Alternatively, you can contact National Rail Enquiries for information
on work across the entire rail network.
If we think our performance falls below an acceptable level during a
peak period, we’ll declare the day ‘void’ for the people affected. When
this happens, we’ll get in touch by email or post. We’ll also put up
posters at our stations. We’ll explain what happened and the options
they have for compensation – either a season ticket extension or a
refund based on the number of void days. And we’ll let them know how
they can claim it.
We’ll also put up posters at our staffed stations four weeks before and
we’ll make amended timetables available at stations seven days before.
We don’t compensate you for any losses or
other costs
• bikes
If your train is delayed or cancelled, we won’t give you compensation
for any losses or extra costs (if you miss a plane, for example).
That’s in line with the National Rail Conditions of Carriage for all
train companies.
If you are catching a plane, please leave plenty of time to allow for any
delays to your train journey. You can ask your airline how much time
you’ll need to leave to check in. It’s also really important to get full
travel insurance.
We’ll do our best to make sure you can still travel by train for all your
journeys during the work. But there will be times when we may need
to take you by road instead. When this happens, we don’t always have
room for things like:
• prams and pushchairs that don’t fold
• animals (except guide dogs).
If you need to travel with any of these things, please check the status of
your journey before you leave home.
Emergency work
Work sometimes needs to be done at very short notice, so we have to
run a new timetable. When this happens, we’ll give you as much notice
as we can – through our website and at our stations. You can also
follow us on Twitter @GWRHelp for live updates, or get a text or email
alert. You can sign up for the alerts at www.journeycheck.com/GWR.
Great Western Railway: our Passenger’s Charter
37
When we can give you a refund
If you’re ill
Delays and cancellations
If you can’t travel for more than four weeks because of illness, we might
be able to refund some of your unused season ticket. Please let us know
as soon as you can if you won’t be able to use your ticket. You can call
our Customer Support team on 03457 000 125. We may ask you for some
confirmation of your illness, such as a medical certificate.
If your train is delayed or cancelled or your reservation will not be
honoured and you decide not to travel, we’ll give you a full immediate
refund at any ticket office wherever possible. Alternatively, you can
return the unused tickets to where you bought them, no later than 28
days after they expire. This also applies to advance tickets.
If you choose not to travel
If the trains are running with no problems and you decide not to travel,
we’ll give you a refund, depending on the ticket you have, but will take
a £10 admin fee off. All you need to do is return the unused tickets to
where you bought them, no later than 28 days after they expire.
We won’t refund certain tickets – for example, advance tickets – so it’s
a good idea to check the terms and conditions of your ticket before you
buy it.
Refunding season tickets
In most cases, we can refund you if you don’t use a portion of your
season ticket – in other words, if you return it before it expires. You can
return the season ticket to where you bought it and we’ll give you a
refund from the date you handed it back.
Our season tickets are a great deal for regular travellers because you
pay a lot less per day for your journey. You also save more for a yearly
season ticket than you do for a monthly one, for example. So you might
find that there’s only a very small amount, or nothing, to refund when
you return it to us.
If you use an annual season ticket for 40 weeks, there won’t be any
refund. That’s because we don’t work out the refund pro rata: we base
it on the difference between the cost of the season ticket you originally
bought and the cost of a season ticket for the amount of time you
actually used it.
If you lose your season ticket
It’s important that you keep your ticket safe. We can give you a
duplicate, but we will charge you a £10 admin fee.
If your property is damaged
Anything you bring with you to our stations or on our trains is
your responsibility. So if you lose it or it’s stolen, we don’t give any
compensation. If your property is damaged, we’ll only give you
compensation if the damage was caused by the negligence of our staff.
Accidents and injury
Travelling by train is very safe, and we work hard to prevent accidents.
If something does go wrong and you are hurt, please let us know as
soon as possible. If it’s an emergency, we’ll get you the help you need.
We record all the details of accidents so we can investigate what
happened and make sure it doesn’t happen again.
Lost property
If you ever leave something on the train or at the station, you can let
our Lost Property team know on 03457 000 125.
If we find any lost property, we send it to our lost property office
at Bristol Temple Meads station. Or if we find anything at London
Paddington, we keep it in the lost property office there.
We store the items we find for at least 12 weeks. If we have something
of yours, you can collect it, or we can post small items or arrange
a courier. We do charge an admin fee in line with the National Rail
Conditions of Carriage, and we’ll ask you to pay for postage or courier
fees as well.
Great Western Railway: our Passenger’s Charter
How to get in
touch with us
39
Whether you have a question or a complaint, want to claim
compensation, give us feedback or make a suggestion, we make it
as easy as we can for you to get in touch with us.
Go to www.GWR.com
Start a web chat
If you’re travelling soon and need help straightaway, start a
web chat with one of our advisers. They’ll help you find train
times and tickets, and book your seats – seven days a week,
from 7am–10pm.
Fill in our online form
Send us a message and we’ll aim to get back to you within
five working days. If you send us a complaint, we may take
longer to give you a full response if we need to look into
what happened.
Call us on 03457 000 125
If you’re travelling soon and need help straightaway, our
Customer Support team will be more than happy to help you
with whatever you need. They’re available from 7am to 10pm
every day, except Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.
Get in touch on social media
If you’re travelling soon and need help straightaway, tweet
us @GWRHelp or send us a message on Facebook at
www.facebook.com/GWR. We’ll be on hand to help you
24 hours a day.
Email us at [email protected]
Send us a message and we’ll aim to get back to you within
five working days. If you send us a complaint, we may take
longer to give you a full response if we need to look into
what happened.
Great Western Railway: our Passenger’s Charter
41
Write to us
Our address is:
Our advisory board is made up of stakeholders and customers
who meet at least five times a year with directors and senior
managers. Together, they look at how we’re doing and
discuss changes for the future.
GWR
Customer Support
FREEPOST RSKT-AHAZ-SLRH
Plymouth
PL4 6AB
Once our Customer Support team has your letter, they’ll aim
to get back to you within five working days. If they need more
time to investigate a complaint or check information, they’ll
let you know within five working days. They’ll then write
with a full response within 20 working days.
Sometimes letters get lost in the post. We work with Royal
Mail to try and stop this, but we can’t always prevent it. If
you’re worried about your letter getting lost, the best way to
get in touch with us is by email, online or over the phone.
Comments about other train companies
If any of your comments are linked to another train company,
we’ll send them on and ask them to contact you.
Our customer panels
We’re always keen to hear from our customers if they have
any suggestions for how we can do better. In fact, we
have two regional customer panels to help us do this. The
panels meet every six months with members of our Senior
Management team. So, if you’d like to help us make changes,
you can volunteer to be on the panels.
If you’re interested, go to www.GWR.com for more details on
what’s involved and how to join.
Our advisory board
The board, and our customer panels, help us decide what we
do with our Customer and Communities Improvement Fund.
This fund helps us transform our customer service where
there is real social need and where normal business criteria
make it harder to invest.
Meet the manager
We hold regular sessions where you can talk to our senior
managers and directors about our service. You can find out
when the next sessions are at www.GWR.com.
If you’re not happy with our reply to
your complaint
We work hard to give you great service and treat complaints
fairly. If you’re unhappy with our response to your complaint,
you can get in touch with Transport Focus or London
TravelWatch – the watchdogs for the rail industry. They can
independently review your complaint and make sure we
responded fairly.
For journeys outside London, please contact Transport Focus.
Here are their details:
Transport Focus
FREEPOST RTEH-XAGE-BYKZ
PO Box 5594
Southend on Sea
SS1 9PZ
Phone: 0300 123 2350
Text phone: 0845 850 1354
Website: www.transportfocus.org.uk
Twitter: @transportfocus
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Great Western Railway: our Passenger’s Charter
43
FCN: 482899/00